Universities tackling gender pay gap at ‘local and global’ levels

At the same time, global initiatives such as the Athena Swan Charter offer sector-wide benchmarks for institutions to work towards, and provide recognition of progress.

Universities make up 88 of the 541 UK education sector employers which have reported their GPG figures for the year 2020-21 through the government portal to date. The universities which have reported so far have recorded a 14.7% median pay gap between male and female employees over the reporting year, compared to a national average of 24.6% in the education sector as a whole as reported by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in 2020. There is, on average, a mean bonus gap of around 27% between male and female employees, based on the universities which have reported to date.

There are, of course, significant outliers at the level of individual institutions, with the highest hourly median pay gap reported by the sample being 37.1% - although this particular institution recorded one of the sector’s most significant improvements, reducing its GPG by nearly 12 percentage points since 2017-18. Other institutions recorded pay gaps as low as 2.6% in favour of men and 3.4% in favour of women, or even no pay gap at all.

Behind the university gender pay gap

On average, universities have reduced their individual GPGs by around 3% since the reporting obligation was introduced in 2017. However, while gradual improvements have been made, universities are still reporting structural barriers to closing the pay gap fully.

In particular, there remains a higher proportion of men than women in higher paid roles at universities, including in senior management roles. The Athena Swan Charter, which exists to support and transform gender equality within higher education, has identified an underrepresentation of women in senior roles in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law in particular, as well as a significantly high loss rate of women in the ‘STEM’ subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths.

At the same time, senior roles in the higher education sector tend to carry higher length of service requirements and are less likely to be held by those working part-time – something which tends to disproportionately benefit men and penalise women. In addition, there no longer being a minimum age for retirement within some universities is also resulting in longer retention of male academics with significantly higher salaries.

Universities have also attributed the prevalence of the GPG to the continuation of traditionally gendered roles in the non-academic side of the business – for example, more women occupying cleaning and catering roles and more men occupying roles such as security. Whether these roles are included in the institution’s overall GPG figures will depend on whether these services are outsourced or the university employs these staff directly.

How have universities responded?

Universities are seeking to tackle the GPG at departmental and institutional level as well as committing to external initiatives, including the Athena Swan Charter.

Leadership, development and mentoring programmes are a common initiative within universities to support female colleagues and colleagues from other marginalised groups with career development into more senior roles. For example, the University of Salford is currently implementing an ‘Academic Career Framework’ which sets out what “good” looks like at different levels of the business. The framework aims to promote transparency and awareness of different career routes within the university, including awareness of the requirements for progression.

Universities are also seeking to improve gender balance across all levels of role by identifying existing gender imbalances and adjusting the recruitment process to include increased pools of female candidates or tracking the gender profile of applicants and appointments. Others are monitoring equality outcomes in relation to promotions and introducing measures such as manager-led applications, to encourage staff who would not come forward themselves to be considered for promotion, or increased consideration of the impact of long-term leave or part-time working in the promotion and salary review processes.

Some universities have introduced GPG reporting at school or departmental level, the data from which is being used to implement action plans at a more local level before feeding into the institution’s overall diversity and inclusion framework. Others are engaging in regular salary monitoring, in order to better understand gender bias. BPP University has established its own ‘gender pay committee’, which has been tasked with monitoring and reviewing initiatives and progress.

By signing up to the Athena Swan Charter, many universities have committed to adopting various principles into their own policies in relation to advancing gender equality, removing obstacles to progression faced by female staff and tackling the GPG, among other things. The charter incorporates an award scheme, providing benchmarks for employers to work towards and independent recognition of progress.

As in other business sectors, the Covid-19 pandemic has increased university employers’ general acceptance of flexible working practices and working from home. Various universities also provided enhanced support for employees with caring responsibilities, including additional paid time off. These initiatives are likely to improve the gender balance at all levels of the business, but particularly around recruitment and retention of women in more senior roles.

The pandemic has also gone some way towards raising the profile of female role models in the sector with Dame Sarah Gilbert, Saïd Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, a particularly high profile example. More visible role models will play a part in attracting women to STEM subjects and careers, hopefully assisting with closing the gap in the longer term.